Wharton Grads Give Back to Their Alma Mater

Many of us have strong feelings for the schools that gave us the skills to succeed in our chosen fields. This is certainly true for graduates of the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. Several of them have stepped in to serve on their postgrad alma mater’s governing board.

Some of the most prestigious businesspeople in the world can claim a dual degree from the Lauder institute—an MBA from the Wharton School or JD from Penn Law plus a Master of Arts from the Penn School of Arts and Sciences. These include Rene Kern of General Atlantic, Janifer Burns of RSL Management and HWB Daughter, and Tony Davis of Inherent Group.

Rene Kern received his dual MBA and MA in 1990. He started his career at Morgan Stanley and went on to join General Atlantic in 1996, originally heading the firm’s European activities. From 2002 to 2007, he led General Atlantic’s Financial Services sector and helped build out the company’s business in Brazil. In 2009, he made Forbes’s Midas List after scoring big with an IPO of financial risk analytics firm RiskMetrics. He also merged Brazilian futures exchange BM&F with stock exchange Bovespa, creating the third largest financial supermarket in the world by market value.

Janifer Burns received her Lauder Institute dual degree in 1986. She then went to work for commercial and consumer banking services company Bankers Trust, where she served as a managing director for the company’s Emerging Markets Syndicate. After working for 10 years at digital banking and financial services firm BBVA, she became the founder and principal at HWB Daughter LLC, a position in which she still serves today. She also serves as a consultant to Ronald S. Lauder, assisting him in his capacity as Chairman of the Board of Governors at the Lauder Institute.

Tony Davis received his Lauder degrees in 1997. He went to work as a special situations investor for Goldman Sachs. Later, he co-founded Anchorage Capital Group, LLC, and served as a portfolio manager for all the domestic and offshore funds managed by the firm. In June 2010 he was named as president of Anchorage Capital Europe, LLP. He now serves as the CEO of Inherent Group, LLC. He aso does a great deal of volunteer work and investment in the field of education reform.

Other Lauder graduates serving on the institute’s Board of Governors include Tom Bendheim, Shiv Vikram Khemka, Rosanna Ramos-Velita, and David Trachtenberg.